The time management monster has bitten and eaten me. Yes, I haven’t posted in a long time. And for that I apologize. Here’s what’s been happening. My mundane job is 40 hours per week, but the last two months it seems to be more like 60 hours per week. We published two books during that time. I finished a book that will be out in August. (A stand alone, coming of age story set during WWII called Not Another Gold Star.) I am close to finishing the fourth book in the Mel Addison Mystery Series that I want to have out during the holidays this year. I began writing the sequel to Desperate Situations (writing as Abby Holden). And…and I went back to school to earn my bachelors.

So as you can see, the time monster ate all my time. I will do better at keeping up with my one blog a week. We will also go back to doing the Author Help Line in July. So come join us. More info later on that.

So now that the news is over… I have found that when I started back to school, I felt very overwhelmed. I had so much to do and no time to do it. The time monster was devouring me. Until I sat myself down and said, “Self, just concentrate on one thing at a time. Get your ducks in a row on one thing, then move on to the next.” Since then I’ve gotten my writing mojo back, I soooo missed it. I can squeeze in only 20 minutes a day of new writing (at lunch, during my mundane job). The other five hours that I have free, I do homework first, then editing for our authors, then marketing for the business, then other business stuff, then collapse in bed.

But I have tamed the time monster enough to have him on a leash. So if you’re feeling the same way, just concentrate on one thing at a time. Give it your all then move on. If all you can do is write for 20 minutes a day, then write for 20 minutes a day. But during that 20 minutes, write like your life is depending on it. Then move on. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot of time spent on writing, but trust me it adds up. I have almost half of the sequel to Desperate Situations done. All at 20 minutes a day.

Time again for the Author’s Help Line. Yes, this Saturday at 11 o’clock a.m. Central Time, rain or shine, we are holding again the Author’s Help Line. It is a free conference call for any level of author to call in and pick our brains. (What little is left of them!) Any question big or small. Or if you are trying to get published and would like to pitch to us, come join us. We are always on the look out for new authors. If this is your first time pitching or even talking to us, don’t worry, we don’t bite. Besides it’s a phone call and we can’t reach you.

So join us. Here are the numbers to reach the conference call:
409-7seven7-nine thousand or if that won’t let you in, call
916-2 zero 9-4534
The access pin # is 2184987

Come join us for an hour of questions and answers. No questions is stupid, just unanswered.

So my business partner, Jason, and I have decided to venture into the world of audio books. We both think it will be a great addition to our business and will add another arena in which to market our books. That being said, it’s a whole new world to us. So I thought that you would like to follow along with our adventures over the next year or so. Maybe recording a book is something that you’ve though about doing. So join us.

The first thing we did was to investigate how to get out books out once we have them recorded. We settled with ACX.com, a division of Amazon.com. Since our books are primarily published there, it made sense. So after thoroughly digging through their website we decided to book one of our books out there to find a reader and get this idea going. Unfortunately we never found a reader that would split royalties with us; most like to paid upfront (understandable), but since we are a start up company the capital just isn’t there for that. Then we decided to do it ourselves. So we rolled up our figurative sleeves and began digging into this new world.

What we found was that it can be done with a little bit of money and the right equipment. By a little bit of money, I’m talking a couple of hundred dollars. Finding the right equipment was the hardest thing. Everyone has the ‘best’ microphone and other stuff for the job. It was confusing and frustrating. We had to become semi-knowledgeable real fast.

So what we settled on was this… CAD GXL2200 Condenser Microphone (With Shock Mount, New), a CBI LowZ Microphone Cable and an On-Stage 7701 Tripod Microphone Boom Stand. Oh and a pop filter that I bought from Guitar Center because I forgot to order it from ZZounds with the rest of the microphone equipment. Then I added an Audio-Technica ATH-M30 Professions StudioMonitor Closed-back Stereo headphones that I bought off of Amazon. All of this equipment is brand new.

Now the interface between the microphone and the computer is another matter. This stuff is expensive! I researched and found that I could buy used and save a ton of money. So I ended up buying an Avid Recording Studio M-Audio Fast Track II USB Audio Interface & Pro Tools SE off of eBay. It turned out to be a great purchase.

So as it stands right now we are tweaking the equipment to get it set right now, then I will begin reading Desperate Situations. Eventually we’ll put it out there for sale.

The next hurdle was finding somewhere to record. And that is whole other blog….

In my last blog I mentioned pitching to an editor/publisher. I also mentioned it during the Author’s Help Line. So here is a short take on pitching. I say short because there are books and whole conference sessions devoted to this. But this should at least wet your whistle on the topic.

Pitching is when you meet up with an editor/publisher and ‘pitch’ your book to them. In other words, you are telling them about your book. Here’s what a pitch is not… It is not giving them detailed, chapter by chapter action and twists. It is not detailing what lead you to write the manuscript. It is not rambling on about a minor or even major plot arc or character.

Your pitch should be short. Think of riding in an elevator and you find out that the person riding with you is an editor/publisher. He/she asks you what you book is about. You have just enough time for say two floors worth of summary. That is a pitch. For instance, here is the pitch for my next book coming out.

General fiction. It is a coming of age story set in WWII. When a German soldier finds his American cousin on the battlefield, what will happen?

What’s the old saying… leave them wanting more? I included the category since I wasn’t sure if we (the fictional editor/agent and I) had discussed genre. Does more happen in the story? Absolutely! But you have to boil the story down to one or two things. Some times it’s also called a tag line. Tag line? Think a movie poster. The most famous that I can think of is the movie Jaws. The original Jaws movie tag line was “Don’t go in the water”.

Now of course you want a range of pitches. If you can get our manuscript down to a one line, less than 25 words, a tag line… excellent. But getting it down to one or two sentences is usually short enough. Now you also need a longer pitch maybe a short, emphasis on short, paragraph. Then you want to develop a slightly longer pitch of maybe a couple of paragraphs.

And practice, practice, practice! You want this to be so second nature that you could do it in your sleep. Because when that time comes, it may be at the most unexpected time. Be a boy scout. Always be prepared. And if you are going to a writing conference where you know there will be editors/agents/publishers, you need to be gold on your pitch.

Now when you get into that situation when you gave your one/two line pitch and the editor/agent is intrigued and asks for more… Jackpot! Congratulations you are more than half way there!

Now is the time to give more details… but do not bore them with too many. If you see their eyes glaze over, you’ve lost them. Don’t get caught up in the minutia. Keep the story to the main character and main plot… oh and yes, you must tell them the ending.

Lastly, let your enthusiasm for your story show through when you pitch. Remember the editor/agent/publisher is not just publishing your manuscript, they are entering into a business deal with you! They have to see that you are excited by your own book and love your own book. Make them catch onto your excitement.

If you’re at this stage and want to learn more about pitching… go to your local library or visit your local bookstore and pick up one of the many books on the topic. They will go into so must more detail than I have space for here.

Got questions about writing?
Got questions about editing?
Got questions about the publishing world?
Wanna pitch your book to a publisher looking for new authors?
Do you have questions about book covers?
Ebooks and e-publishing?
A fan of our books?
Bored and have an hour to waste?
Just enjoy talking on your phone?

Well, come join us this Saturday (tomorrow), for a question and answer period of about one hour. It’s a free conference call to ask us here at Seventh Wave Books any questions you might have. We might just have the answer.

We’ll start at 11 am central time. Here is the number to call – 4 zero nine- 777- nine thousand or the alternate number at 916- two zero nine- 4534. It will ask for a pin number and here it is… 218 four 987 That’s all you need.

It seems we had a few technical difficulties with Rondie the company we use for the conference calls. So with that in mind, we’ll try it again this coming Saturday, April 6th. The time will be the same, 11 am Central time.

The phone number to call is 4 zero 9- 7 seven 7-nine thousand. If that doesn’t work (like it did today), the alternate phone number is 9 one 6- two 0 nine- 45 three 4. The pin number is the same for both lines. Here is the pin number again… 2 one 8 49 eight 7

Again, sorry for the difficulties, but come join us this Saturday. Come with questions. Or pitches. Or just to say hello.

Do you have a burning question about writing but were afraid to ask or didn’t know anyone to ask? This Saturday, the fourth Saturday of every month, Seventh Wave Books sponsors the Author Help Line for this very reason. We are there to answer any of your questions about writing , publishing, and the answer to life itself. Yeah, the last one we’re a little shaky on.

Free. All you need to do is to email me at seventhwavebooks@gmail.com and I’ll send you the phone number to the conference call and the access pin to get join us. Again it’s free. How many truly free things are there left in the world?

Ask any question. There are no dumb questions. Seriously. And if you are looking for a publisher, join us and pitch to us over the phone. You never know what will happen. We are needing new authors and love working with first time ones. Ask Guy Gertsch and soon to be published Alicia Sheehy, both first time authors. We love first time authors.

And just to round out this blog… From the Business Insider via Publisher’s Weekly… Some interesting facts about Amazon.com you might not know….
1. Amazon.com was almost called Cadabra as in Abracadabra.
2. The name was chosen for two reasons… one the suggest scale- Earth’s biggest bookstore and back then websites were listed alphabetically.
3. Amazon’s warehouses have more square footage than 700 Madison Square Gardens and could hold more water than 10,000 Olympic pools.
4. The first book sold by Amazon.com was Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.
5. Amazon’s current logo was designed to depict a smile that goes from A to Z. “This signifies that the company is willing to deliver everything to everyone anywhere in the world.”
6. Amazon.com employees spend two days every two years working at the customer service desk, even the CEO.
7. Last year when Amazon website went down for 49 minutes, the company missed sales of nearly 5.7 million dollars.

Wow. Who knew? Anyway, join us at the Author’s Help Line this coming Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 11:00 am Central Time. All you need to do is email me at the above address and get the number and access pin. Free. Ask your questions. Bring it on.